A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t2.121

v2.c19.s3.t2.121

These ideals, like the ethical doctrines, the noble fourfold path, gentleness and kindness towards all beings (mettā), non-violence (ahiṃsā), self-control, and so on, are common to these songs as well as to the sayings of the Dhammapada and the poems of the Suttanipāta. The distinctive feature of the songs of the monks and the nuns is, however, that they are personal confessions, or describe personal experiences. Proudly a monk relates how wife and child in vain endeavoured to disturb his peace—“Then my heart was set at liberty” (Therag. 299 ff.). Another one recalls to mind the courtesan whose blandishments he has resisted (Therag. 459 ff.). The Songs of the Elders abound in attacks on the woman, the temptress—this snare, this bond—who never ceases to threaten to divert the monk from his holy living.¹ However numerous may be the women who come, boasts one monk, they shall not seduce me (Therag. 1211). Woman is the cause of all suffering, only he who steadfastly keeps away from her, can become a true hero (Therag. 738 ff.). A monk describes in a most gruesome manner, how he was led to the truth by the sight of the decaying corpse of a woman (Therag. 315 ff., 393 ff.). In contrast to these ugly pictures there are many more beautiful ones. We hear of a monk whose own mother led him to the truth, for which he thanks her in beautiful words.² In another song a monk consoles his mother by telling her that, after all, he has not died (Therag. 44). Another one relates how he eked out a miserable existence by picking up dead flowers, how he came to the Buddha and found liberation (Therag. 620 ff.). Yet another, according to tradition the son of a king's chaplain, tells how, proud of his noble birth, his wealth and his beauty, he lived a life of infatuation, until he saw the Buddha, and was converted (Therag. 423 ff.). A king, who has become a monk, compares his present life as a beggar with his erstwhile splendid court life (Therag. 842 ff.). Yet, in the Songs of the Elders, references to external experiences are comparatively rare. As a rule they only describe the inner life of the monks, mostly in short poems of a few verses each. However, in the verses ascribed to the Thera Talapuṭa,³ we have also a long and splendid poem, the soliloquy of a monk striving after holiness. Some of the Songs of the Elders deal neither with introspective self-expression nor external experience, but are merely verse sermons of general content.[^1)